A Hunter's Story
by GopherKing
Summary: It begins with a teenage boy attempting the hunter exam in order to make his life more fulfilling and fun. OC, rated T for violence, and bad language.


**Hurro all ye fan fictioners, GK here. This is my first fan fiction, it's based off of Hunter X Hunter as you probably already know! I tried to do write a unique story based off of an OC, while incorporating certain aspects of the canon plot in, such as the location of the exam and the characters there. Certain aspects I had to improvise but I hope it's done okay. I would love some reviews and constructive criticism if you have the time, because as stated above this is my first fan fiction EVER! So without further ado I give you…. The disclaimer!**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: Hunter X Hunter is not mine. It's Togashi Yoshihiro's<strong>

**And now without further ado I give you… The story! (Sorry if it sucks :P)**

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><p><strong>A Hunter's Story<strong>

_Chapter 1: Setting out_

Almost everyone would be staring at their televisions right now. It was always big news; even those people who weren't interested in attending often seemed to be interested in it.

The Hunter exams.

Right now, all over the world people would be watching for an announcement as to where the exams would take place. However as most knew, just knowing the location for the exam didn't mean one was qualified to take it. Dlayer knew this better than most; he was 16 and had already attempted the exam twice. The first time he had reached the location but had been unable to find the exam site, he would later find out that the help of a 'navigator' was necessary for an examinee to even enter the exam site, let alone take the first exam. His second attempt had been a year later; he found and proved himself to a navigator by the name of Tomar who led him to the exam site in Yorknew city. He had been assigned a number and had been ready to try his best when there was a catastrophe. He met a man by the name of Tompa, at the time it was Tompa's 33rd attempt at the exam and he seemed like an all-around nice guy. He told Dlayer about some of the competition, and who to watch out for; he even shared some of his juice. That juice however had been tampered with and the addition of a strong laxative forced Dlayer to run to the bathroom. He emerged a few hours later to discover that he had missed the first exam and had been disqualified.

Dlayer shook himself out of his daydreaming and brought his attention back to the T.V., he was glad it had been a commercial or he might have missed something during his reminiscing. The program came back on, it was just a short thing advertising the exams, the benefits of becoming a hunter, inviting people out to make an attempt, warning about the dangers of the exam, and giving the general location. The whole thing couldn't have been more than five minutes but it seemed like longer as the suspense built and Dlayer grew more and more eager to find out and be on his way. Finally, they got to the important stuff, the good stuff.

"Finally," the narrators voice said, "This year, the 287th hunter exam session, will take place somewhere in Zaban city, on the Yorbian Continent. Registration ends December 31st, we hope to see you out there!"

As he said that the screen showed a beautiful aerial view of the large city of Zaban, then as the voice finished the image slowly faded to black and the next program began. Dlayer didn't pay attention to it however, he was too busy thinking about the exam and getting himself pumped up, after the huge letdowns his first two attempts had been, he was determined to do well this year. He didn't necessarily intend to pass this year, but he wanted to at least make it through an exam or two.

Dlayer got up off of the one chair in his small apartment and looked around; there wasn't much he would need to bring, there weren't many things he owned for that matter. He pulled out an old backpack and threw in two changes of clothes, a traveling cloak, as well as a few energy bars. He sighed and walked over to the door to his bedroom, turning off the T.V. and lights on the way. In his room he looked down at the small mattress that served as his bed, hopefully in a month's time his life would be more exiting and he would no longer just scrape by. With that he flicked out the lights, undressed, laid down on his bed, and went to sleep.

HXH

Dlayer woke up in the early afternoon the next day, he was in no rush as it was only the 15th of December and he wanted to be well rested for his trip and the exam. He put on a pair of plain generic brown cargo pants and a black T-shirt; he wrapped a belt around his waist and clipped on a sheath with a small dagger inside. As he often did, he drew the blade to admire it better, grinning at the crisp noise it made as it slid out of its sheath, his most precious possession. It was about a foot and a half long and shaped similar to a scimitar, it was kept well-polished and in good condition, it shined beautifully when it caught the light. Its dark red handle was about a foot long and covered in small ridges that would make it a bit easier to hold onto even when slippery with blood or sweat, finally a small metal cross piece connected the blade to the handle, the cross piece was painted gold but other than that completely plain.

Finally Dlayer nodded pleased with his preparations, he pulled on his backpack and grabbed his wallet off the floor on his way out. He locked the door behind him and proceeded down the stairs before emerging out onto a street. He glanced behind him at the crummy apartment complex he had been living in for years and hoped that he would never have to return. If he passed he would probably never come back, this small town held few happy memories to him, and if he stopped paying rent and the landlord threw out his few remaining possessions inside, he wouldn't lose anything special. If he didn't pass he would come back and continue his crappy life until next year, when he would try again.

Walking down the street, Dlayer nodded a hello to a few people as he pondered his next move. He had always lived on the Yorbian continent so at least he wouldn't have to spend too much on traveling expenses, he quickly decided to walk to the nearby town of Garzan where a bus station was located, from there he could ride to a small town near the lake where his old navigator Tomar lived, with any luck at all Tomar would be able to serve as his navigator again and get him to the testing site in Zaban city. His plan made, Dlayer exited the town.

HXH

Garzan was about a 5 hour walk, from Dlayer's home town and he strolled in at about 5:30, just in time to see the last bus of the day pulling away, he took off running in the hope that the driver would see and wait for him. Missing the bus wouldn't be the end of the world as a new one would come the next morning, but Dlayer knew he wouldn't be able to afford a hotel room and didn't feel like sleeping n the streets. Luckily, the driver did see him and with a sigh, stopped for the straggler. After catching up Dlayer climbed aboard, he handed the bus the appropriate amount of jenny, and with a friendly nod walked past him, it took him a minute to find an empty seat in the crowded bus but he eventually found one near the middle next to a mean looking man. He figured that most of the people on the bus were headed for the exam as several had weapons with them, and most glared at him competitively as he sat down. He let himself catch his breath for the first few minutes while he observed his surroundings and competition. He doubted that very many if any of them would make it to the first stage, but he wanted to know their faces anyways, just in case.

HXH

A few hours later Dlayer woke with a start as the bus hit a bump. He jumped and quickly looked around, worried that he had missed his stop, some of the others snickered or outright laughed at him.

The big man next to him smirked, "Zabans still a long ways away kid." He said mockingly.

Dlayer just looked over at him and stated, "What makes you think I'm going to Zaban?"

The man glared at him, "Cuz that's where everyone's going, it's where the exam is this year."

Dlayer just inwardly chuckled to himself and ignored him. He looked out the window to judge the busses position but now that night had fallen he had a hard time finding any land marks.

Eventually he decided it would be easier to just ask the driver, so he got up and walked to the front, "Excuse me, have we passed the lakeside stop yet?" He asked.

The bus driver looked over his shoulder and muttered quietly, "Someone knows where they're going, eh? But no, we haven't passed it yet, if ya wanna go sit down again I'll call ya when we're there."

Dlayer thanked the driver and retreated to his seat where he waited patiently, managing to stay awake this time.

HXH

"Ey, Kid!" the bus driver called out, "We're there!"

Dlayer quickly grabbed his things and walked up to the front, the man he had been sitting next to had a surprised look on his face when he saw that Dlayer was actually getting off before Zaban.

When Dlayer got to the front he looked at the driver "Thank you very much for the ride." He said before stepping out.

The bus driver nodded back, "G'night and good luck." he replied as he closed the doors behind Dlayer.

As Dlayer stepped out into the cool night air, he looked around. In front of him he could see the moon reflecting off the water of the lake, to his left was a small town on its shore and halfway around the lake and to his right was where Tomar's cabin should be. Unfortunately the lights were out so Dlayer couldn't see it. Deciding that he would rather walk over in the morning when he would be able to see better Dlayer found a tree and laid down against it, pulling his cloak out of his bag to use as a blanket.

HXH

The next morning Dlayer woke up early with a yawn and a stretch. It was hard to sleep in when sleeping against a tree… He got up and began walking around the lake; looking forward to seeing Tomar again he soon took on a light jog.

Tomar's cabin was pretty far away from the rest of the town and it took Dlayer a good 15 minutes to reach it. When he did get there he took a minute to catch his breath and admire it. It was a fair sized cabin, not to big, but not too small either, just the right size for the old navigator. It had a small deck with stairs leading up to it and a dock that ran out a short ways into the lake. Normally there was a boat tied at the end but that was missing at the moment. Dlayer ran up the steps of the deck, and knocked on the door excitedly… When no response came he knocked again… After a minute of silence he knocked one last time harder than before. He knew Tomar wouldn't be asleep, he had told Dlayer that he preferred to go to bed early and get up early so Dlayer decided that he was either out fishing, hence the absence of the boat, or had gone into town. Dlayer looked out at the lake, he could see a few boats out there but since he didn't have a boat he knew he wouldn't be able to check the lake for the old man, so with a sigh he decided to check the town first… which meant running around the lake again.

After a short trek back to the town Dlayer began checking inside various stores, he didn't find Tomar in any of them.

Finally in the last store, one for groceries and general goods he asked the clerk, "Have you seen the old man Tomar around? I can't seem to find him."

The clerk looked at the boy, "I'm sorry to tell you this but Tomar died a few months ago."

At first Dlayer just stared back, not sure what to say, "H-how?" he finally stuttered out.

The clerk frowned, "There was an accident while he was fishing. Were you close?"

"N-not really." He replied as he turned and left the store.

As he was leaving the clerk called out, "He's buried in the cemetery if you would like to visit him."

HXH

An hour later Dlayer was standing over Tomar's grave in the lakeside cemetery. He realized that what he had said to the clerk was true; he and Tomar really weren't close. They had known each other for a single four day period, but Dlayer had genuinely liked the man. Dlayer stood there for an hour pondering why he would be this upset over the death of a man that he barely knew.

Soon after he left the cemetery and headed back to the bus stop. He didn't know where to go to find a new navigator, and after a while he finally decided. Instead of just standing around thinking about where to go to find another navigator he would move on, he would go straight to Zaban and figure things out when he got there. As the bus pulled up, he pulled out his wallet and again pulled out the necessary amount of money. He nodded to the driver and sat down near the back in a bad mood. The bus was much less crowded now that the day one rush was over, but the bus was still pretty. As the bus pulled away Dlayer looked over what was left of his money. He hadn't been expecting to have to pay the bus fare twice and he was suddenly lower then he would have liked, he had enough money for maybe eight meals. This was problematic as it was only the 16th of December and there was still 15 days until the actual exam not to mention the fact that he no longer had enough jenny for a bus ride home. Dlayer sighed and put his wallet away, he would probably have to find some work in Zaban city, _"Whatever, nothing I can do about it now…" _He thought to himself.

HXH

4 days later the bus arrived in Zaban, all the occupants filed out and began to look around, Dlayer knew that most, if not all of them would be searching for the exam site, he also knew it was never that easy. It was near impossible to find the exam site without a navigator, and even if you did there's no guarantee you wouldn't be turned away for coming without a navigator. Dlayer decided to start in the center of town and slowly work his way out.

An hour later he had located the center of the city, in front of him was a huge building, it appeared to be the town's government building. Crowds of people as well as a variety of individuals were entering the building; he decided it would be a decent place to start his search.

15 minutes later he left the building with the answer he had expected. No, of course they wouldn't put the exam site in a place so obvious. Before he continued searching he decided to find a decent place to sleep at night, it was pretty late already and he was pretty tired.

After an hour of asking around and searching he found a park in the Tsubashi quarter of the city, it was an area where the homeless often slept and after darkness fell and the park was empty except for the homeless he laid out on a bench and went to sleep.

HXH

The next day Dlayer woke up and took his surroundings in with a bit more attention to details. His observational skills was one of his better traits, he often took in more details then others, this rarely helped him in his day to day however. Now as he stood up he quickly took in his surroundings, nothing in particular stood out to him, nothing except for two things. There was another huge building here, almost as large as the governments, outside there was a sign marked XX, the symbol of the hunters association, it marked the building as the Zaban branch of the hunters association. But the thing that really got his attention was the people standing outside and entering. Like with the government building the day before, hordes of potential examinees were filing in. What really caught Dlayer's eye were two men in particular standing together, the first was looking at the large building in awe, he quickly began to move towards it, but the other man stopped him by grabbing his arm. The first man looked back confused and the second waved his head, as if he was asking his friend not to go, but then he pointed over his shoulder at another building and proceeded to lead the first man over to it. Dlayer followed them with his eyes as they walked into a small restaurant with the name 'Paroxysme' written on the roof, he watched the doors for several minutes, he was starting to think that they just wanted to eat some breakfast before going into the association building but right as he was about to look away, the second man came back out, but now he was alone. Dlayer chuckled to himself; he never would have thought that he would find a lead this fast.

Over the course of the day Dlayer continued to watch the doors constantly, he saw almost the exact same thing happen five more times that day, one guy or girl would start towards the association and then their partner would lead them the other way, into the noodle house before leaving alone a few minutes later.

HXH

Three days later Dlayer was still calmly watching the doors, he only took brakes to eat, drink, and sleep. For food he ate an energy bar a day, for water there was a nearby tap, and for sleep he had his bench and cloak. However, only eating energy bars and water was starting to get to him, because of this he decided to put the next part of his plan into action. He headed over to the restraint and stood outside, so as not to look suspicious he pretended to be looking at a list of signature items they had on a sign. As he stood there he listened to the conversations going on behind him, finally after about 10 minutes he heard what he wanted to hear.

"What! How could the exam be in there?" said a man behind him.

Dlayer didn't need to hear anything else, he just casually walked through the doors and took a seat, and again he pretended to look at the menu. Soon the man he had heard talking came in with who Dlayer assumed to be a navigator. The man was rather tall, and rather bald, he wore black armor over his upper body, and light black pants, additionally he had a bright red scarf wrapped thickly around his neck. His partner was an old lady who wore a baggy brown robe. They approached a counter with an opening in the wall behind it where one could see and talk to the chef as he prepared customers meals.

The chef looked up, "What can I get for you?" he asked politely.

The woman grinned, "A steak!" she wheezed.

The chef seemed to react to this, paying the woman a bit more attention he asked, "How would you like that cooked?"

The woman replied, "Slowly, Rare."

The chef nodded to a waitress who stepped over and asked them to follow her to the room in the back. A few minutes later the old woman emerged and left alone. Dlayer knew an exchange had gone down between them; he just wasn't sure what it was yet. He stood up and went over to make his order.

"What can I get for you?" asked the chef.

Dlayer pointed to an item on the menu, "I'll have whatever this is please, it looks delicious."

The chef nodded, "It'll be right up"

Dlayer sat back down and waited for his food, he ate slowly and listened intently to every order, always taking note when someone was brought to the back room.

HXH

Another week had passed with Dlayer doing the same thing, come hell or high water he had to get in today. It was the 31st, the last day for registration. He had been confident that he had the password 5 days ago, but he waited so that he could make sure. Now he just had to try it out and hope they let him in despite the absence of a navigator accompanying him. When he woke up on the morning of the 31st he packed up his cloak and headed over to the restaurant and entered, when inside he refused to allow himself to hesitate and walked confidently up to the chef's window.

The chef looked out, "What can I get for you?" he asked.

Dlayer swallowed nervously, "A steak." He replied, making sure to keep his voice calm and level despite the knot he felt in his stomach.

The chef seemed momentarily surprised but replied, "How would you like that cooked?"

To which Dlayer replied with the words he had been hearing all week, "Slowly, rare."

The chef nodded to the waitress who asked him to follow her, Dlayer's heart fluttered with excitement as he realized he was finally going to the backroom and hopefully, the exam.

After he had sat down and the woman had left and closed the door behind her the table and chairs began to descend, leaving the door and restaurant behind. A minute later it slid to a halt and Dlayer stood up to exit, the doors opened and Dlayer stared out into the crowd of people staring right back at him in contempt at having another competitor. Dlayer stepped out and the elevator disappeared behind him. He looked around and almost immediately saw a familiar face.

"Tompa." Dlayer growled as he set his eyes on the short chubby man. He took a few menacing steps towards him, planning on taking revenge for last year when a short man with a round head ran up to him.

"Here's your number!" He said as he handed Dlayer a small piece of plastic with the number 402 written on it

"Uh… Thanks." Dlayer replied as he pinned the number to his shirt.

He looked back over to Tompa but the veteran had taken the opportunity to leave. Dlayer sighed, but figured that he would likely see him again and have another chance for revenge. Just as he was about to move deeper into the crowd a ding caught his attention. He looked over to see the elevator doors open once more. This time however there were three newcomers inside. First was a tall black haired man wearing a black suit and glasses with a briefcase held at his side. Then came an average height boy with blond hair who seemed to be about Dlayer's age, he wore an odd blue poncho like piece of clothing that covered his chest and back, underneath that he wore plain white pants and a plain white shirt. Finally there was a short boy with spiky black hair wearing a green jacket, green shorts, and green boots. Dlayer just looked them over once, surprised to see a boy younger than him making it his far. Dlayer then proceeded further into the crowd so as to get a better look at his competition. He had only been looking around for a minute when he was sprayed in the face; he wiped off the foreign substance to find that it was blood. To his left a man had just had his arm's cut off, another man stood behind him with a wild grin on his face. The man was extremely tall and had wispy bright blue hair, his outfit looked rather ridiculous, it was a bright purple and had markings for the four card sits on it, Clubs and spades on the front, hearts and diamonds on the back.

"Oh, how strange!" Said the clown, "He doesn't have any arms! Just magic ladies and gentleman."

The crowd backed away in horror as the clown's victim just continued to scream in pain. Dlayer recognized him from the year before. Hisoka the magician Dlayer recalled, he also remembered hearing that Hisoka had been disqualified last year for almost killing a judge.

Dlayer didn't get to about much else as a weird ringing noise went off, getting everyone's attention. At the front of the crowd another man had appeared. This one was wearing a dark pink suit, had grey hair, a curly mustache, what appeared to be no mouth, and half closed eyes that gave him a tired look.

"Here I am" he said, "The time for the reception is over." He looked over the huge crowd of examinees before continuing, "The exam can now begin."

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><p><strong>Well, that was the first chapter, If you liked it please review. If you didn't like it, review anyways! XD<strong>


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